1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for cameras that enable the generation of a series of images that may be composed into a still image frame sequence or short video clip. The techniques of the invention involve the processing of those images, often under low-light conditions, to achieve various interesting effects. The techniques are designed to be incorporated into hand-held devices, such as cell phones, etc, that have such a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
The popularity of low-cost cell phones that also support image capture functions is on the rise. These devices typically also support a high level of user interaction through button- and/or pen-based user input. The presence of such interactive user-controls coupled with immediate feedback on the cell phone display enables a new class of image acquisition, manipulation and creation modes that were previously unavailable in analog or consumer-level digital imaging devices.
A typical low-cost image acquisition element, such as the photo sensor in a cell phone, operating with a free-running shutter can generate a sequence of images that may be acquired for composing still image frames or short video clips. As the popularity of the cell-phone-camera function increases, manufacturers and designers are looking to add more features to give the user even more options regarding the manner in which images are captured and viewed.